25 percent of Americans believe there's a Sandy Hook conspiracy

Published 1:01 PM EDT May 01, 2013

Nearly half of Republicans believe an armed revolution may be necessary in the next few years to protect civil liberties, according to a new poll.

The poll, which was conducted by telephone last week by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind, found that 29 percent of Americans believe armed revolution may be necessary, with 5 percent saying they're not sure.

While 18 percent of Democrats and 27 percent of independents believe that to be true, 44 percent of Republicans questioned in the poll said armed revolution may be needed.

The poll questioned a randomly selected sample of 863 registered voters nationwide and included both cell phone and traditional telephone users.

Nearly three-fourths of Democrats (73 percent) say Congress should pass new laws to protect the public from gun violence, but 65 percent of Republicans don't believe those are necessary.

The poll found that 38 percent of those who believe armed revolution is necessary also support additional gun legislation.

A quarter of Americans say facts about the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary last year are being hidden, while 11 percent aren't. Nearly a third of Republicans believe that facts about the shootings are being suppressed, with 32 percent agreeing.

About a third (31 percent) of those with no more than a high school degree think the truth is being hidden, compared with 16 percent of college graduates.

Gun control opponents are more likely, at 37 percent, to believe that facts about the elementary school massacre are being withheld for political reasons, compared with 59 percent of Americans who don't believe there's a Sandy Hook conspiracy.

The poll has a margin of error of 3.4 percent.

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